


First Words

by NarryMusings



Series: Of First Words, Etched Into Skin [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmate-First Words, mentions of Albus Dumbledore in particular, mentions of Harry Potter series, this was supposed to just be a drabble...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 01:48:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7994191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NarryMusings/pseuds/NarryMusings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine having something like ‘man I cant believe dumbledore died’ tattooed on you. Imagine being spoiled for a book series that doesnt even exist yet. Imagine worrying about this Dumbledore guy your whole childhood while not knowing who he is. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <a href="http://dondaario.tumblr.com/post/105017946867">Bases on this post.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	First Words

[Lets imagine that Niall (and Harry) are older. Niall was born in 1985. He’s 12 years old when Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is published. He’s 16 when the movie comes out. He’s 20 when Half-blood Prince is published.]

X

Niall is six years old when he really, truly – finally – comprehends the meaning behind the Tattoo scrawled neatly across his forearm.

His mother tells him that it’s for his Soulmate. That, one day, when he finally meets his Soulmate, it’ll be the first thing his Soulmate will say to him. That it’s different for everyone because everyone’s Soulmate is different. That his Soulmate will have Niall’s first words tattooed somewhere on his, or her, body too. That she, or he, will wait however long it takes to hear what Niall has to say, the same way Niall will.

She tells him that it’s fate. That he and his Soulmate are destined to be together. That it’s written in the stars, or something.

After she explains it to him, he finds himself staring at the words written into his skin. He runs his fingers over the black letters, traces the cursive flow of them with his fingernails. And he wonders…

He wonders why. He wonders how. He wonders why the first words his Soulmate is going to say to him are, _Mate, I can’t believe Dumbledore died._ (Who is Dumbledore, anyway?)

More than anything, though, he wonders what his own first words are going to be to Soulmate. 

X

He’s nine years old – and he wonders why his Tattoo is so…weird and _stupid_. 

Nearly everyone else has cute, sweet Tattoos. Amy has _'you have really pretty eyes'_ written underneath her left collarbone; Holly has _'wow, you’re beautiful'_ scrawled across the back of her neck; Sean has _'you’re really sweet'_ printed on his right shoulder blade; and Bressie has _'you’ve got great arms'_ tattooed on his left bicep. Even Eoghan’s _'can I have a peppermint latte_ isn’t as weird as Niall’s – because at least a peppermint latte is a thing, or so Niall is told.

Niall’s pretty sure that ‘Dumbledore’ isn’t a thing. Or a real person. Or even a fictional person – because he’s searched everywhere, in both the school and the town library, and he can’t find one damn thing about any 'Dumbledore’.

So who’s Dumbledore? Who will Dumbledore be? Will Niall know Dumbledore – and is that how he’ll meet his Soulmate? Or will Dumbledore be a stranger? Will Dumbledore even be real? What will Dumbledore be to his Soulmate? How will Dumbledore die? Will it be from natural causes, or will he be killed? If he gets killed, then who kills him? Why did they kill him? Is Dumbledore a good person or a bad person? What could Dumbledore have possibly done for someone to want to kill him? 

Who is Dumbledore?

X

_Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone_ comes out when Niall is 12 years old. Everyone is talking about it, critics are raving about it, and the only bookstore in town sells out of copies before Niall can even get his hands on it.

He founds out, rather quickly however, what it’s about through the kids at school and, well-

It’s about a boy named Harry, who doesn’t know that he’s a wizard until he does, courtesy of a letter addressed to him by a Professor McGonagall, and hand-delivered to him by a small giant named Hagrid, inviting him to attend a school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The headmaster’s name is…Albus _Dumbledore_.

Niall’s stomach bottoms out, and his heart starts racing in his chest the moment Amy tells him. She’s excited and ecstatic – and she knows that this could be Niall’s Dumbledore, but it’s going to be fun and exciting and it’ll be worth the journey, won’t it? Even if Dumbledore dies?

And Niall wants to agree. He does. And he wants to be able to open the book when his da surprises him with it a few days later, and he wants to read it and revel in it just like everybody else – but he can’t. He can’t stomach it. He can’t bring himself to open the book, because it feels a lot like betrayal, somehow. It feels a lot like he would just be standing by, watching a friend die and not being able to do anything to stop it.

Knowing that Dumbledore is going to die eventually, if that’s who this Dumbledore guy is, and reading it are two very different things, is the thing. So, instead, he tucks the book into the top drawer of his nightstand, tells himself that should another 'Dumbledore’ magically appear (no pun intended) then maybe – MAYBE – he’ll reconsider reading _Harry Potter_ , and then he forgets about it.

X

Or, at least, he tries to forget about it. Evidently, though, as the years go on and the second and third and fourth books are released, _forgetting about it_ becomes easier said than done.

The books are everywhere; in the book shop window, in the library, in people’s hands at school and in coffee shops and on the tube. His friends try not to talk about the books in front of him, because they know how he feels and they’re considerate (most of the time), and then the film adaptation of the _Philosopher’s Stone_ comes out when he’s 16, they try to avoid talking about it in front of him then too – but they’re also human, and they slip up sometimes, and it’s _hard_.

There’s also the constant reminder of his own Tattoo, bold and [grudgingly] beautiful, scrawled across his skin. It acts simultaneously as a temptation and a warning sign. And, as stupid and _weird_ as it may sound, the Tattoo, itself, feels a lot like a connection – one that’s different from the fact that it’s his Soulmate Tattoo.

X

He’s 19 years old, the summer the sixth book, _The Half-Blood Prince_ , is published. And it’s when he starts university a couple of months later, that he buys the book for his own, 20th, birthday.

He hasn’t read the series, has avoided it like the plague for nearly a decade, and he doesn’t really have any intentions of reading it but- He might have to. 

Because everyone is sad about it and nobody will say why, and Niall has a bad feeling about it – has that gut-wrenching, anxious feeling, like he _knows_. And maybe it’s because he does know. Maybe he’s known all along. And he doesn’t want to read it, but he sort of feels like he has to know for certain.

It’s like he has to know, even though he already knows. He has to be sure. 

He just can’t make himself read the whole book. He can’t make himself do it – can’t make himself connect even more with a character he doesn’t even know, only to have it…end. He can’t bring himself to do it, but he carries the book around with him for days – holds onto it like it’s a lifeline, but he doesn’t open it. 

Until he does. 

He’s sitting in the courtyard, back against a tree, legs bent in front of him, book open towards the end of the back cover because it’s all he thinks he can handle. It’s all he thinks he can stomach, at this point. If only he could make himself do it…

As if on cue, someone stops walking in front of him and when he looks up, it’s to see a tall, leggy boy with long-ish brown curls and a sad look on his face. In the bloke’s hands is a copy of _The Half-Blood Prince_. He opens his mouth to say something, but the lad beats him to it-

“Mate, I can’t believe Dumbledore died,” he mutters – and his voice is all kinds of sad as he hugs the book to his chest.

Niall blinks in response, taken aback, in complete and utter shock… He wants to screams, but he feels like he’s going to be sick. There’s a vague thought that pops into his head, tells him that this bloke is obviously his Soulmate, but that’s the exact last thing he’s worried about right now because _who the fuck does this guy think he is?_ “I fucking hate you,” he snaps, slapping the book shut before pushing himself to his feet. “You utter, _fucking asshole_.”

The bloke does nothing but blink at him, his face pale. 

Niall lifts his sleeve to reveal his six most hated words in the English language when strung together. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through for the last 15 years?! Do you have any clue at all what this _stupid_ tattoo has done to me?!”

“I-”

“Of course you don’t,” Niall scoffs. “So I’ll tell you.

"Some nights, when I was a kid, I couldn’t sleep because I was worried sick about some bloke named 'Dumbledore’. Sometimes, in the middle of class, I’d drift off and imagine what kind of person he was, and how I would come to know him – and I’d think of all the ways he could die. And then _Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone_ came out, and everyone – literally everybody I know knew read that book, and I _couldn’t_. Why? Because the bloody headmaster’s name was 'Dumbledore’ – and I was terrified that I’d become even more attached to him even though I knew he was going die. I made everyone around me who read book, after book refrain from talking about the series around me because I didn’t want to know a damn thing about it.

"And then _this_ book came out and I just- I knew, based on people’s reactions, so I bought a copy and I tried so many times to read it but I couldn’t bring myself to. And now here you are – and you’re the very person who ruined this entire, incredible series for me, and you’re my _fucking Soulmate_.”

“I- I’m sorry,” the lad stutters, his voice but a whisper. His eyes are wide, and he truly does look like a deer in the headlights. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know that I, I shouldn’t have-”

Niall sighs. Perhaps he overreacted… “Of course you didn’t _know_. And I know it’s not technically your fault, it’s just…”

“Fate. Sometimes it works in funny ways – or not so funny ways, I suppose.”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, I’ve had the words _'i fucking hate you’_ written in my skin from the day I was born. So imagine my surprise when mum told me that they would be the first words my Soulmate said to me…”

And- Shit. Niall hadn’t even realized that… His heart feels as though it falls down into his stomach. “I’m- I’m so sorry, I-”

The bloke shrugs him off. “It’s okay. I mean, I spent a long time wondering what I would possibly end up doing to deserve such a statement and, well, I can’t say I didn’t deserve it.

"I also spent some time thinking you might say it in a playful sort of way, so it wasn’t all bad.”

Niall laughs softly. “We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?”

“Quite,” the lad agrees. And then he’s beaming – smile bright like sunshine, dimples in his cheeks. He’s beautiful. “Suppose that’s why we’re Soulmates.”  
Niall hums.

The boy sticks his hand out for Niall to shake, whilst still clutching the book to his chest with the other. “I’m Harry.”

Niall snorts, quirks an eyebrow, looks him up and down purposely. “Seriously?”

Harry nods, smirking knowingly. “Seriously.”

Niall slips his hand into _Harry’s_ , thinks vaguely in the back of his mind that his hand just sort of…fits there, and then smiles. “’m Niall.”

**Author's Note:**

> This really was just supposed to be a drabble.


End file.
